Daily Report: Long Chats

Being Friday, it was off to CDO tonight. Epril had gone earlier in the day to join up with the Expats Ladies weekly prayer meeting. (She made Baby Jesus very happy, I tell her.) I rode into town after sundown with Cherry and Randy Stirm, to introduce them to some of the local kanos.

We hung out first at Spooks, where I chatted with this fellow named Don from Scotland. We had a nice chat about the differences between The Philippines and Thailand. It's a common subject people broach with me: I think all expatriates keep one eye on the horizon, even if they have no immediate intention of going there.

After that, we were going to go to McDonald's, but instead made a last minute decision to go to Kinse Amigos for bar-be-que. Randy sat and talked with Mike Turner and Joe Palugna about his boat situation. I talked with this fellow Dave. He's an old Canadian Jew who has lived one of those adventure-filled, death-defying lives that soon will only be found in adventure films: Military action in Algeria with the Foreign Legion, fighting for Israel in the Sinai, going to work for the American Government after Dien Bien Phu. Now he bakes. I look forward to trying his cornbread.

Epril kept Cherry company the whole time with Marissa Turner's help. They all got along quite well, and I think are keen on being friends. The big "Mayor's International Night" banquet is being held this Sunday evening at Pryce Plaza and all of Cagayan De Oro's foreign population will be attending. The girls are all excited, talking about dresses and makeup.